It didn’t take long for Albemarle to roll past Riverbend for the Patriots’ second Commonwealth District win.
With Jake Hendrix cleaning up inside from the opening tip, the Bears switched to a zone. Then Mayn Francisco buried a trio of first half 3-pointers and forced Riverbend to swap again.
By then, it was too late.
Even with just two players, Hendrix and reserve guard Michael Ledford, barely notching point totals in double digits, Albemarle spread the wealth to the tune of a 66-30 walk over against the Bears.
Junior point guard Daiquan West pulled the trigger on that balanced offense, dishing out 10 assists to go with his seven points. West found Francisco on a pair of those long balls, and set the table all night by breaking down the Riverbend defense at the top of the key and then operating in the lane.
“I’ve got confidence that if I dish the ball, they’re going to make it,” West said. “I just keep getting all my shooters the ball. Anyone will finish.”
Hendrix cleaned up any misses with 11 rebounds to go with his 10 points in his double double effort.
“All three of them (post players Hendrix, Rashad Talley and Andrew Mann) give us some good valuable minutes out there,” said Albemarle coach Greg Maynard. “Tonight it was Jake, it looked like he was grabbing every rebound, Saturday (against Charlottesville) it was Rashad and then Andrew is actually our leading scorer on the season. All three of them have really done a nice job. ”
Albemarle (7-4, 2-3 Commonwealth) jumped up 10-2 to start the game, then Riverbend started to bounce back, but West found Talley for a bucket and then the point guard drew a charge on the other end that led to a Francisco three and an Andrew Frazier basket. By then the lead was 16.
Four straight three point plays, two from downtown and two others the hard way helped Riverbend claw back within striking distance, but Albemarle closed out the half with a beautiful bucket, when Talley yanked down a rebound with under seven seconds to play, found West on the outlet and then the junior hit Frazier with an arching pass on the other end. Frazier buried a 3-pointer as the halftime buzzer sounded, and Albemarle took a 19 point lead into the break.
Talley pulled down seven rebounds to go with nine points while Frazier finished with seven points. Ledford led all scorers with 11 points.
Perhaps the biggest cheer of the night came when reserve junior forward Woo-Yul Kim banked home a reverse lay-in, with the bench and the Albemarle student section exploding over the basket.
Zach Jacobsen paced Riverbend with 10 points as Albemarle’s defense clamped down on the Bears.
Albemarle hits the road Friday to take on Brooke Point at 7:30 p.m.
